In the steel making industry the ingot molds used for forming steel ingots must be descaled or cleaned between each use in order to remove the residual scale, splash and coating particles which remain after the steel is removed from the mold. A common procedure for cleaning ingot molds is to convey the molds to a mold-preparation area where a flail wheel is displaced into the mold cavity and is rotated therein so that the flails, normally chains or other flexible elements, are rotated within the cavity to impinge against the walls of the cavity and remove scale or residual particles which may be adhered thereto. Molds frequently have a fluted interior so that the impingement of the flails around the perimeter of the cavity effectively cleans the inwardly projecting parts of the flutes, but the valleys of the flutes and the corners often are not subjected to the flail action and are not effectively cleaned. In order to clean the valleys of the flutes and the corners, the interior surface may be abrasive blasted by a compressed-air blasting nozzle. Since the nozzle is normally manipulated manually by an operator, the effectiveness of the air blasting is variable, depending upon the skill and the diligence of the operator using the nozzle. Air blasting is also a very slow process requiring much more time than is available between normal mold reuse cycles. As a result of these deficiencies, the steel producers tolerate ingot molds which are incompletely cleaned, and poorly conditioned for reuse.
The present invention provides apparatus for efficiently cleaning and peening the interior of ingot molds. It may be installed in a steel-making facility in a cleaning area where the used molds may be received, cleaned and peened, and conveyed back to the steel-making area within the allowable mold recycling time.